THE road to redemption will be long for Luis Suarez but the message is clear – Liverpool Football Club are standing by their man. The Uruguayan striker will be handed the opportunity to atone for the latest bout of shame and embarrassment he has heaped on his employers.

Liverpool responded swiftly and decisively to the sickening sight of Suarez sinking his teeth into the right arm of Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic at Anfield on Sunday.

The Football Association will now deliver their punishment with an independent regulatory commission meeting tomorrow to decide on the length of his ban after he was charged with violent conduct.

Some will argue that Liverpool should have gone further. That Suarez’s latest brush with controversy was a step too far and he should never represent the club again.

Yet it is hardly a surprise that the result of those frantic Transatlantic conference calls involving Ayre, Rodgers, principal owner John W Henry and chairman Tom Werner was that Suarez won’t be shown the door.

Regardless of how unpalatable his actions were on Sunday afternoon, the 26-year-old is Liverpool’s biggest asset.

Morals don’t feature highly in the business of modern football. Sacking Suarez would have been akin to setting fire to £50million in bank notes.

And in reality what would it have achieved? For all the outrage across the globe, Europe’s top clubs would have been queuing around the corner to snap him up.

Similarly, there is an argument that the Reds should put him on the transfer list and use the cash from selling him this summer to enhance Rodgers’ squad.

But Liverpool simply refuse to accept that Suarez is more hassle than he’s worth. The statistics tell you why.

Suarez has been a revelation this season, plundering 30 goals in 44 appearances. No other Liverpool player has reached double figures in the league.

For the first half of the campaign Suarez carried the striking burden almost single-handedly. With him Liverpool are seventh, where they would be without his world-class talent is almost unthinkable.

That explains why rather than turning their backs, the Reds intend to put a collective arm around him and help him try to combat his demons.

“It affects his future in the sense that we have to work with him on his discipline – but Luis is a very important player to the club,” Ayre said.

“He’s a very popular player with his team-mates.

“As we keep saying, he signed a new four-year contract last summer and we’d all love to see him here throughout that contract.

“He’s a fantastic player, top scorer and everything we’d want in a striker, so there’s no change there.

“This is more about getting him back on the right track and it’s largely down to Brendan now to work with him on that side of his character.”

Ayre cancelled a planned trip to Australia and the Far East to promote this summer’s pre-season tour in order to deal with the avalanche of negativity following Sunday’s game.

Lessons had clearly been learned following the series of PR disasters which followed Suarez’s race row with Patrice Evra in October 2011.

It was significant that shirt sponsor Standard Chartered issued a statement yesterday supporting the club’s handling of the incident.

“LFC have clearly stated that this is unacceptable behaviour and Luis Suarez has apologised,” it read. “We feel the club has dealt with this issue appropriately and swiftly.”

Yet the worry for Liverpool is that Suarez still seems incapable of learning from past mistakes. His list of indiscretions grows ever longer.

To bite someone once, like he did to PSV Eindhoven’s Otman Bakkal in November 2010 which led to a seven-match ban and him being dubbed ‘The Cannibal of Ajax’, was shocking.

To do it again to Ivanovic, without even provocation as a flimsy defence, is quite frankly disturbing.

It’s only 14 months since Liverpool issued another apology on his behalf after he refused to shake Evra’s hand at Old Trafford.

At the time Ayre branded his conduct “unacceptable” and accused Suarez of “misleading” the club.

Regardless of the sense of injustice he felt at his eight-match ban, Suarez made a calamitous error of judgement – snubbing a player he had been found guilty of racially abusing.

It’s been a recurring theme with his naive admission in January that he had dived to try to win a penalty against Stoke City incurring the wrath of Rodgers.

He was unfairly castigated following the handball which knocked Mansfield out of the FA Cup but the latest storm is all of his own making.

Ayre insists that Suarez has been left under no illusions about the seriousness of his conduct.

“I think the most important thing is that we acted swiftly,” Ayre said.

“Luis issued his apology and we’ve taken action to fine Luis for his actions. Brendan has spoken to him and I’ve spoken to him, and Brendan will be working with him further on his discipline.

“You can see when you speak to him how sorry he is about it and he’s certainly shown quite a lot of contrition to us.

“I think he felt like he let a lot of people down.

“We’ll work with Luis – Brendan particularly – on this side of his character in his game.”

The PFA have offered Suarez anger management counselling but Liverpool also have top sports psychiatrist Dr Steve Peters to turn to for assistance.

Peters has been hailed by cyclists Chris Hoy and Victoria Pendleton as the man behind their Olympic triumphs, while ex-Reds striker Craig Bellamy has credited Peters with helping him change his behaviour for the better. Taming Suarez is likely to be his toughest test.

Suarez himself has acknowledged that he undergoes a personality transplant when he crosses the white line.

He plays ‘on the edge’ and that fierce will to win, coupled with breathtaking ability, is what sets him apart from his peers.

But when he’s tarnishing the club’s good name he’s a liability. As he serves his lengthy ban, Suarez will have plenty of time to reflect.

Liverpool aren’t ready to wash their hands of him. The hope is that he will repay that faith and clean up his act.